The other day I walked into a store, looking for a certain something.  I was prepared to do retail battle, tracking the thing down, hunting among cluttered shelves and end aisle displays.  Instead, a salesperson met me at the door, and asked me what he could do to help me.  I told him.  He walked me back to the rack in the store where I found precisely what I was looking for.  I checked out and went on my way, clutching my newest material possession.

That’s what I’m talking about.  Closure.

In a world awash with products and services of every description, what I’m really looking for is someone to help me figure out how to get what I need, or at least what I really want.  Most of the traditional brand-sell spots that I see leave me wanting more – like having a brief 15- or 30-second conversation with a charming so-and-so at the bar, and then leaving without a phone number or a way to take the next step.

I want my DRTV.

Instead of a commercial with half a minute of clever – there are many, and I enjoy them as much as the next remote wielder – how about something that will also educate, inform, give me a little taste of what to expect, what you’ll do for me, your many virtues.  And then let me know how I can get one of my very own.  Right now.

Engage me, entertain me.  But then please, please give me your phone number.  Or at least your url.  Now that’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  Or, more accurately, a consummated one.

It’s been said that we live in a world dominated by immediate satisfaction.  I’ll cop to that.  As will anyone who finds themselves frustrated when they don’t get a reply within sixty seconds of sending a text.  Tell me how I can get it delivered it to my door, downloaded to my TV, uploaded it to my iPhone.

Just please don’t make me work for it.

 

Mike Powell is Executive Creative Director at A. Eicoff, one of North America’s largest DRTV agencies.

 

Tags: advertising, direct response television, DRTV, short-form infomercial

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